Category: Health Care

At times like these you gotta love the peoples House.

ast Thursday the US House took up the vote on H.R.847 – James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010.

As the name identifies the bill would have provided $3.2 billion over the next 10 years to fund free health care for 9/11 rescue and recovery workers who have fallen ill from toxic smoke and debris they breathed  at the World Trade Center site. The bill would have also provided $4.2 billion in compensation over that same span.

Seems pretty clear enough, who wouldn’t want to compensate those that were involved in responding to the worst attack on America since Pearl Harbor? Amazingly enough … the “party of NO!” … Most Republicans refused to back the measure, calling it a “slush fund.”

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), arguing that it would be raided by undeserving scammers with tenuous links to 9/11. Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) cast it as a money grab for New York because the bill would pay for care at higher rates than Medicare. “This fund is bloated,” said Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.).

This is huge in so many ways, to many for a non medical professional like myself to break it all down.

New Insurance Rules: Free Preventive Health Care

Today I scheduled an appointment with a GP for my yearly checkup. I’m not physically sick or injured at the moment, but I figured it would be worthwhile setting up an appointment anyway. While on Medicaid here in the District, an insured person is required to establish a particular primary case physician.  This PCP is based at a specific location and is, of course, the person one sees in the event of a serious illness.  I had meant to do this long before now and finally got around to it.

Welcome to this week’s Health and Fitness. This is an Open Thread.

As is now custom, I’ll try to include the more interesting and pertinent articles that will help the community awareness of their health and bodies. This essay will not be posted anywhere else due to constraints on my time. Please feel free to make suggestions for improvement and ask questions, I’ll answer as best I can.  

Living in Emergency

For the first time ever, MSF gave a documentary crew uncensored access to its field operations. Set in war-torn Congo and post-conflict Liberia, “Living in Emergency” interweaves the stories of four doctors as they struggle to provide emergency medical care under extreme conditions. Two volunteers are new recruits: a 26-year-old Australian doctor stranded in a remote bush clinic and an American surgeon from Tennessee trying to cope under the load of emergency cases in a shattered capital city.

Two others are experienced field hands: a dynamic head of mission, valiantly trying to keep morale high and tensions under control, and an exhausted veteran, who has seen too much horror and wants out. Amid the chaos, each doctor must find their own way to face the challenges of the work, the tough choices, and the limits of their idealism.

This documentary opens in cities around the US this weekend. I urge you to see it, it will gives you a far better picture of what we do than I can ever put into words. Bring a strong stomach and a few tissues.

Welcome to this week’s Health and Fitness. This is an Open Thread.

Green Beans Bring Flavor to Pastas and Pilafs Alike

Green Bean and Mushroom Salad With Creamy Vinaigrette

Greek Stewed Green Beans and Yellow Squash With Tomatoes

Green Beans With Potatoes and Garlic

Warm Green Bean Salad With Frisée and Walnuts

Garlic Green Beans

As is now custom, I’ll try to include the more interesting and pertinent articles that will help the community awareness of their health and bodies. This essay will not be posted anywhere else due to constraints on my time. Please feel free to make suggestions for improvement and ask questions, I’ll answer as best I can.  

Welcome to this week’s Health and Fitness. This is an Open Thread.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Cancer survivors might want to try yoga to sleep better and have more energy, according to a new study that will be presented at a meeting in early June.

“Physicians and oncologists are often uncomfortable advising patients who want to use therapies that are complementary to standard cancer therapy,” Dr. Douglas Blayney, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, said in an interview.

“Here we have a studied intervention, one that has been subjected to clinical trials and, lo and behold, it seems to be beneficial,” added Blayney, who was not involved in the new research.

As is now custom, I’ll try to include the more interesting and pertinent articles that will help the community awareness of their health and bodies. This essay will not be posted anywhere else due to constraints on my time. Please feel free to make suggestions for improvement and ask questions, I’ll answer as best I can. NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Severe depression within the first year of a traumatic brain injury is common but treatment is not, Washington state researchers report.

Socialized Health Care?

Last night, 15 May 2010, ABC News, they’re video of is not up yet, had a report on that many should have seen, a report that could have been extremely sad, not only for the family involved but any viewing, but instead was extremely happy and informative for all.

Pittsburgh Mom Determined to Help Son

Woman Finds Resources to Make Medical Care Affordable

Welcome to this week’s Health and Fitness. This is an Open Thread.

Hesitation in Calling for an Ambulance Could Delay Lifesaving Treatment

May 13, 2010 — Stroke victims need immediate emergency attention, but a new study shows that most people who realize stroke warning signs are occurring in a friend or family member may not call 911, thereby delaying potentially lifesaving treatment.

This is alarming, Michigan researchers suggest, because people who suffer strokes need immediate assessment and treatment.

But people who would call 911 if they thought a friend or loved one was having a heart attack don’t seem to realize that strokes are deadly, too, the researchers write; strokes are the No. 3 killer in the U.S.

Stroke victims who are candidates for the clot-busting drug called tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) may receive this treatment if they get to a hospital within three hours (and in some select cases up to 4.5 hours) of the time the first warning signs show up.

*   Symptoms of an ischemic stroke (caused by a clot blocking a blood vessel) usually occur in the side of the body opposite from the side of the brain where the clot occurred. For example, a stroke in the right side of the brain affects the left side of the body.

   * Symptoms of a hemorrhagic stroke (caused by bleeding in the brain) can be similar to those of an ischemic stroke but may be distinguished by symptoms relating to higher pressure in the brain, including severe headache, nausea and vomiting, neck stiffness, dizziness, seizures, irritability, confusion, and possibly unconsciousness.

 

 Sudden numbness, paralysis, or weakness in your face, arm, or leg, especially on only one side of your body.

New problems with walking or balance.

Sudden vision changes.

Drooling or slurred speech.

New problems speaking or understanding simple statements, or feeling confused.

A sudden, severe headache that is different from past headaches.

Do not disregard any of these symptoms even if they pass quickly. Symptoms of stroke can develop over minutes, hours or days. The symptoms can be progressive starting with a little tingling that evolves into paralysis.

Call 911 immediately. The faster you get to an Emergency Room at a hospital with a Stroke Center, the better the chances that there will be a good recovery. The Paramedics know where these centers are and it may not be the closest hospital It is important that the patient get to a Stroke Center within 3 hours of onset of symptoms.

As is now custom, I’ll try to include the more interesting and pertinent articles that will help the community awareness of their health and bodies. This essay will not be posted anywhere else due to constraints on my time. Please feel free to make suggestions for improvement and ask questions, I’ll answer as best I can.  

cross-posted from Sum of Change

About 1,000 nurses, with a handful of doctors mixed in, rallied today on Capitol Hill for National Nurses Week to “press the case for moving beyond insurance reform to improving the quality of care in U.S. hospitals and other healthcare settings.”

Welcome to this week’s Health and Fitness. This is an Open Thread.

These are great for breakfast or a late afternoon snack. I had the Kiwi-Strawberry late this morning, far better than my usual slap together poached egg on a muffin or instant oatmeal.

As is now custom, I’ll try to include the more interesting and pertinent articles that will help the community awareness of their health and bodies. This essay will not be posted anywhere else due to constraints on my time. Please feel free to make suggestions for improvement and ask questions, I’ll answer as best I can.  

Welcome to this week’s Health and Fitness. This is an Open Thread.

Charlize Theron: She could be your mother, your sister, your daughter.

Maj. Gen. Patrick Cammaert: It is perhaps more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in armed conflict.

Nicole Kidman: Those responsible for sexual violence must be held accountable.

Leymah Gbowee: Wars and being fought on the bodies of women and children.

Dr. Denis Mukwege: Sexual violence is the monstrosity of our century

Theron: Go to stoprapenow.org to learn more and to take action

Learn More go to Stop Rape Now.org

As is now custom, I’ll try to include the more interesting and pertinent articles that will help the community awareness of their health and bodies. This essay will not be posted anywhere else due to constraints on my time. Please feel free to make suggestions for improvement and ask questions, I’ll answer as best I can.